Arrangement for stamping machines



July 6, 1943. E. v. NYBERG 2,323,673

I ARRANGEMENT FOB STAMPING MACHINES Filed Feb. 17, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet l Fig. I

172 are/7% v July 6, 1943. E v, NYBERG 2,323,673

ARRANGEMENT FOR STAMPING MACHINES Filed Feb. 17, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 6, 1943. E. v. NYBERG ARRANGEMENT FOR STAMPING MfxCI-IINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fi led Feb. 17, 1941 nul nn l F llllll .ll

Patented July 6, 1943 UNITED STATES ARRANGEMENT FOR STAMPING'MACHINES Ernst Vilhelm Nyberg, Stockholm, Sweden, as-

signor to Telefonaktiebolaget L. M. Ericsson, Stockholm, Sweden, a company of Sweden Application February 17, 1941, Serial No. 379,302 In Sweden February 24, 1940 2 Claims.

This invention relates to stamping machines for post-marking or franking mail and similar articles and is more particularly concerned with such machinesof the kind in which the articles to e stamped are fed to a stamping device comprising a pair of constantly rotating and normally spaced printing and impression or counter rollers which are automatically moved towards one another, each time an article takes up a position between them, so as to engage said article. It is an object of the invention to provide a stamping machine of the kind referred to by which a high rate of feed of the articles through the machine is obtained without the risk that they will be inaccurately stamped.

In accordance with the present invention, each of the articles on its passage to the stamping device is arranged to actuate a lever the movement of which controls the position of a locking device associated with a mechanical relay, said relay including a pair of locking discs and said locking device being movable to engage with either of said discs while disengaging the other, a continuous drive being provided to operate said locking discs through the medium of a friction coupling upon movement of the locking device to disengage either of the discs, and the latter upon operation being displacea-ble and being coupled by a system of lever to the impression roller in such manner as to move said roller towards the printing roller each time an article reaches a position between the rollers. The locking discs are preferably formed with teeth or projections which are adapted to be engaged by the lockin device, the teeth on each disc being angularly displaced with respect to those on th other disc so that when the locking device is moved away from either disc towards the other, the discs will rotate through an angle corresponding to the displacement of the teeth on the two discs.

The invention will be clearly understood from the following description of one embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. l is a top plan view of the letter stamping device and Fig. 2 is a side view showing the principal parts of Fig. 1. Figures 3, 4 and 5 are different views of the mechanical relay, Only the details necessary to explain the required parts of the letter stamping machine are shown on the drawings.

In Fig. 1, I and 2 are constantly rotating rollers between which the letters or cards are fed in continuous succession to the stamping device in the direction indicated through arrows. The stamping device consists of a constantly rotating stamping or printing roller S and a constantly rotating impression roller M which presses the letters against the stamping roller. The letters having passed between the stamping roller and the impression roller, they are forwarded to receiving means (not shown).

When a letter from a trolley such as described in application Ser. No. 339,995, filed June 11, 1940, arrives between the rollers I and 2, the letter forces a releasing lever 3 (Figs. 1 and '2) sideways, causing the said lever to leave the rest position shown on the drawings. The lever 3 is secured to the shaft 4 which is rotatably journalled in a frame 5. Another lever 6 is secured to the shaft 4 which rotates through the same angle as the lever 3'. Inthe opposite end of the lever 6 is a hole I in which one angular vertically disposed end of a rod 8 is rotatabl journalled. The other end of the rod 3 is also bent at right angle but in horizontal direction. This end is rotatably journalled in a hole 9 in a lever Iii which in turn is rotatably journalled around a fixed shaft II.

When the lever B rotates, the lever Iii also retates a certain angle around the shaft II. On the same shaft I-l another lever I2 in the same manner is rotatably journalled. The ends of the levers I0 and I2 are coupled together by means of a spring I3 which tends to bring the levers towards each other. The lever I2 is prevented by a stop I4 on the lever II! from moving under the influence of the spring I3 beyond the right angular position shown in Fig. 2. As the lever I0 is moved with the end point anticlockwise because of the rotation of the levers 3 and 6, the lever I2 follows on account of the tension in the spring I3, and thus the end of the lever I2 is moved upwards and lifts a rod I9.

When the letters no longer pass between the rollers I and 2, and the levers 3 and 6 return to their starting positions under the influence of a spring I5 mounted in the frame, the lever I2 engaged by the stop I4 rotates downwards back to the starting .position.

By the described movement up and down of the lever I2 and of the rod I9 produced only through the pressing of the letter against the lever 3, a mechanical relay MB. is actuated, which in a manner described in the following at the upwards movement of the lever I2 by means of the power of a shaft driven by a motor, actuates a coupling 3I and thereby presses the impression roller M against the stamping roller S. At the lowering of the lever I2 the impression roller M is moved away from the stamping roller. By means of the relatively inconsiderable force pro-- duced-by a letter on-the lever 3, it is possible through the mechanical relay MR for a motor to actuate the impression roller M causing is said roller to press against the stamping roller S.

By means of a disc 50 and one or more nuts 53, the rod I9 (Fig. 2) is connected to a shaft M (Fig. 3) parallel with the rod I9, said shaft extending within a tube 52. This tube 52 is r0- tatably journalled in the frame. The shaft 5| is divided in one upper and one lower part which parts are journalled in the tube by means of the joining device 54. The lower part of the shaft 5| is provided with a locking device 55 at its lower end. The locking device is shown in Figure 5. At the movement up and down of the rod I9 the shaft 5| is also correspondingly moved up and down. Thereby the locking device is moved between an upper and a lower locking position. In the position shown in Fig. 3 the locking device is in its upper position in which it locks an upper locking disk 56, Figs. 3 and 4. When the shaft 5I is removed downwards, this lock is broken and the. locking device engage a second locking disk 51.

The mentioned locking disks 56 and 51 have each three locking teeth spaced at a 120 angle relative to each other and arranged in such a manner that one locking tooth on the one disk is situated in the interval between two locking teeth on the other disk. The locking disks are arranged on the shaft 63 which by a continuously rotating shaft 52 is driven through a friction coupling 6 I The shaft 63 is journalled in a lever 64, which lever is fixedly connected to the tube 52. As shown in the drawings, the shaft 62 is movably coupled to the friction coupling in such manner that the shaft 63 can be moved sideways.

When the shaft 5| is moved from one position to another, the locking tooth on one disc is disengaged from the locking device 55 and the locking disks are immediately moved a sixth of a revolution under action of the shaft 52 until a locking tooth on the other disk is locked by the device 55.

In the space between the locking disks and journalled in these are three small rollers 58 placed at a 120 angle from each other which (at the movement of the locking disks) are moved towards two discs RI and R2 constantly rotating about fixed axes and placed on each side of the locking device 56, 51, 58, 59. On the drawings, Fig. 4, one of the rollers is in contact with the disk RI. The other disk R2 is at the same moment in contact with a disk 59 on the locking device. The outer edge of the disk 59 is situated a less distance from the centre shaft 63) of the locking device than the outer edges of the rollers 58. When the locking disk moves a sixth of a revolution the roller 58 on the right hand side leaves the corresponding disk, RI, while the roller 58 next in front of the first mentioned roller, with respect to the direction of rotation of the shaft 63, will engage the disc R2. At this stage the disc RI engages the edge of the disc 59 and owing to the difference in the radial distances between the rollers 58 and the shaft 63 on the one hand, and the edge of the disc 59 and the shaft 63 on the other hand, the shaft 63 is caused to swing about the axis of the tube 52. This swinging motion of the shaft 63 which is effected at each partial rotation of the discs is transferred to the impression roller in the following manner. At the turning of the locking device the tube 52 thus is moved a corresponding angle by means of the lever 64. At the same time a lever 65 attached to the tube 52 is turned. This lever 65 is connected with the above mentioned coupling 3|, Fig. 1. When the lever is turned in the direction of the arrow F, the coupling 3I is consequently pulled in the same direction. This coupling is connected to a lever 22 journalled in a part 23 of the frame. In the end of the lever 22 a shaft 2I is journalled on which the impression roller M is placed. The length of the coupling 3| may be adjusted by means of a screwing device on the coupling by which the distance of the impression roller from the die holder may consequently be varied.

The lever 22 is not fixedly connected with the coupling 3| but is pressed against a plane surface of the coupling 3| by means of a spring 32. The spring thus enables relatively thick letters or post cards to pass between the impression roller and the die holder. When such a letter passes between these rollers, the impression roller M may move sideways owing to the yielding action of the spring 32.

As seen in Fig. 5, the locking device 55 on the shaft 5I has inclined surfaces extending from the center to both sides. By these means, the moving of the locking device 55 from one looking position to the other is simplified, as the friction between the locking discs and the locking device is reduced.

In the example shown in the drawings the rollers I, 2, RI, R2, the stamping roller and the impression roller as well as the shaft 62 are driven in a speed of about 800 revolutions per minute. The mentioned rollers have an approximate diameter of about 50 mm. With such dimensions and a distance between the rollers I, 2 and the rollers M, S of about mm. the impression roller M, upon the feeding of letters, will press the first letter against the stamping roller about 10 mm. from the engaging edge of the letter. For the normal size of the letters the impression roller moves about 20 mm. from the rear edge of the last letter. Other suitable dimensions and speeds may be used without departing from the principles of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a stamping machine, continuously rotating feed rollers, continuously rotating stamping and impression rollers, a lever actuated by articles passing from the said rollers to the stamping and impression rollers, a pair of rotatable locking discs, a locking member movable from one position to another by said lever to engage and lock either of said discs while disengaging the other disc, a continuously operated drive member, a yieldable drive coupling for imparting rotary movement to said discs from said drive member during movement of the locking member from one position to another, means for displacing said discs incident to rotary movement thereof, and means operated in response to displacement of said discs to move the impression roller towards said printing roller.

2. A stamping machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said locking discs are provided with teeth engageable by said locking member, the teeth of one disc being angularly displaced with respect to the teeth of the other disc whereby, in the interval between the disengagement of the locking member from a tooth of one disc and engagement with a tooth of the other disc, the two discs are rotated by said drive coupling through an angle corresponding with the angular displacement of the teeth of the two discs.

ERNST VILHELM NY'BERG. 

